All posts tagged Big Cities

GUEST MENTORCharley Polachi, co-founder ofPolachi Access Executive Search: As any real estate agent will tell you, it’s not all about the pretty house with the exquisite lawn. It comes down to the neighbors, the local infrastructure – schools, churches, the perceived future opportunities and, most importantly, the restrictions on life. … Read More »

GUEST MENTOR Ryan Smith, CEO and co-founder of Qualtrics: Believe it or not, Provo, Utah, is a tech hub that boasts some pretty compelling startup stories. In fact, one street in Provo — or “Silicon Slopes” — houses three billion-dollar companies within 1,000 yards of each other. And in 2012 alone, this street experienced some major successes: Vivint was acquired for $2 billion in October, Ancestry was acquired for $1.6 billion in September and Qualtrics (my business) received a $70 million Series A in May . Let’s just say that there’s more than luck at work here. … Read More »

GUEST MENTOR Matt Lauzon, founder of Gemvara: When it comes to determining the best city to start a business, my belief is that every startup hub has its pros and cons. I believe great cities for starting a business have three things in common: access to talent, access to capital and access to a support network. Without strong options in all three areas, establishing a startup requires more effort and funding – and in the end it may even be impossible to successfully see the business into maturity. … Read More »

About The Accelerators

For aspiring or actual entrepreneurs, The Accelerators is an online archive of discussion among startup mentors– entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists. Although the blog is no longer being updated, its content lives here and you can see an archive of its tweets through June 2015 @wsjstartup.